Tattoos
by samettikettu
Summary: Every tattoo has its own story and tattooist Trafalgar Law has heard many of them. After meeting a small teen with raven hair and hearing his story, he finds himself getting drawn to the boy with a tragic past. LawLu, [past brotherly AceLu]


It was a grey and boring Friday night.  
Well, every night was grey and boring for Trafalgar Law, the owner of the _Hearts Tattoo and Piercing_. His employees had all gone home few hours ago after they had cleaned their kits and put the needle machines and inks back to their original places.  
This had been a busy day.  
An orange-haired woman had stormed in and demanded that her windmill-tangerine tattoo was to be done again since the result hadn't been what she had expected. She had demanded her money back and that the one who had tattooed her would do it again and do it like it would be exact copy of the photo she had with her.

Law had been in the resting room during that time but when he heard Bepo's horrified scream, he had just walked in to witness the scary young woman verbally assaulting his employees. Bepo was a little chubby and a very soft guy who took everything a bit too seriously, so when the woman had yelled at him the man had gone flat on the floor begging for her mercy. His other two employees, Penguin and Shachi, were hiding behind the tattoo table, hugging each other. The woman then spotted Law, marched to him and yelled at him.

Law heard the woman's demands and took the photo out of her hand and compared it to the tattoo on the woman's upper-arm. The two pictures were almost identical except that the tangerine was a bit smaller than it was in the picture. Law made her an offer: He'd fix the tattoo himself if the woman forgot about returning the money. The orange-haired woman thought about it and agreed, but if she found out some more mistakes, she would sue the man. In the end, the woman left the tattoo shop happy and Law's employees came out from their hiding places. Bepo had managed to hide underneath the tattoo table and it took Shachi a lot of work to pull the man out. Penguin was praising his employer's negotiation skills eyes shining like stars.

After this Law had let his employees home early, he had paper work to do and he knew that he could only do it in peace if he was alone. They trio was more than happy to leave early on Friday night. So after cleaning and putting things away, they said good night to their boss and left.  
The man stretched on his chair and walked to the big window next to the class door. The sign still said "Open" but Law seriously doubted that anyone would walk in the shop on Friday evening after seven pm. Then again there was this one time when his so-called friend Eustass Kidd had walked in after the midnight with his friend Bartolomeo. They were both drunk and Kidd had told Law to pierce Hannibal's nose, the other drunken man had only nodded and muttered something. First he had refused, clearly seeing that the man wasn't sober enough to make decisions like that, but then Kidd had started to threaten him with pointless things. Law decided to agree and in his mind he was feeling malicious. This would be a great lesson for the two idiots. They should never mess with the one with needles and scalpels. Yes, Law had scalpels since he was also a doctor. And a damn good one too.

So Law pieced Bartolomeo's nose, he put a small bull ring on it. Kidd was laughing that the piercing looked really good on the man. Law only smirked and asked if they wanted him to do something else while they were at it. He could make from Bartolomeo's drunken muttering that he wanted two lines going from the corner of his right eye to the hair line. Law prepared his tattoo machine and began to work.

On the next day Law expected the men to show up in his shop full of rage and shaking their fists in the air. But instead the men came in and the first thing Bartolomeo did was to thank Law and praise his skills. The man actually liked the piercing and the tattoo on his face. Kidd too was pleased by the result and asked if Law could design a full arm tattoo for him. A tattoo that would make his left arm look like it was mechanical.

Law smirked when he saw a man and a woman running down the street, passing the tattoo shop's window. They seemed to be in a great hurry. The woman's blue hair was wet and the man next to her was holding his jacket on top of both of them so they wouldn't get anymore wet.  
Oh, it was raining.  
No wonder the weather seemed greyer than usual.

The tall man in a yellow-black hoodie went back to his table. He had to finish Kidd's tattoo and he wanted to do it as soon as possible so he wouldn't need to see that idiot's face any longer.

Law was so concentrated on the drawing that he didn't hear the bell above the door to inform him that he had a customer. Only when he heard a shy "Hello" he lifted his head from the design. What he saw was something that he would never forget. The young male was wearing loose jean shorts and a red hoodie. He was all soaked wet by the rain and was already trembling. The rain had wetted his short hair making it glue to his face, bringing forth his big and brown eyes and long eye-lashes. The boy was absolutely gorgeous.  
Law took of his glasses and stood up.

"Good evening, how may I help you?"

The boy sneezed.

"Would you like a towel?" Law received a shy nod. Being a doctor made him to study human body language which helped him with his customers. If the customer were feeling uncertain about their decisions or that something was wrong with them and they were too shy to talk about it, Law would know by the way their body was moving. It was pretty easy actually. But being a doctor also meant that he had to be worried about his customers' well-being and that was something that Law sometimes hated about his job. He really didn't care about other people but himself.  
Law studied the way this boy was acting and he could see that the teen had something big on his heart. Maybe something too big for a small and petite looking boy like him.

The tall and slender male came back from the rest room with a big and fluffy towel, which he gave to the smaller boy. The boy thanked him and dried his hair with it before wrapping himself into it. Law now had a full view of the boy's face. A round face, a cut underneath the left eye which seemed old, the boy's raven hair was short and wild. The boy was true beauty.

"So, what brings you to my Tattoo shop?"

"I'd like to have a tattoo."

"How old are you? I can't let you have a tattoo unless you are sixteen or older", Law answered, sitting on his work chair behind the drawing table which was also the counter. The boy seemed so young, he couldn't be older than sixteen.

"I'm seventeen." the boy answered and judging by the look in his eyes, the kid wasn't lying. Law nodded approvingly, he motioned the teen to sit on the tattoo table next to him.

"So, what have you thought about as your first tattoo?"

"How did you know it would be my first?" the dark tattooist could see amazement in the boy's brown eyes. He smirked.

"The way your body acted when you stood in front of my desk. You were shaking a little when you stepped in, and not just by the cold, and the way you keep glancing the tattooing equipment is another sign of nervousness and inexperience. If this was your second or third tattoo you wouldn't be so quiet and timid."

The boy opened his mouth but closed it immediately. His eyes were still big as plates. Law folded his arms and leaned back, studying the teen a little more.  
They sat there for a while, until the raven-haired teen spoke again.

"My first tattoo… It a memorial for my big brother", the teen unwrapped the towel and searched for something inside his shorts' pockets. He pulled out a necklace with a pendant on it. Law reached for it and studied the necklace. It had one pendant with two sides, on the other side was a smiling face and on the other was a sad face.

"He always wore that. He got it from his deceased mother when he was born. He never went anywhere without it", the boy smiled sadness in his eyes. "It meant a lot to him."

Law nodded. They necklace was beautiful. "Have you thought about something special, like where do you want it or..?"

"I want that smiling face on my right upper-arm and the sad one on my left."

"Do you want me to customize them for you?"

"No. I want them as they are."

Law only nodded, 'the customer is always right'. His eyes moved from the pendant back to the boy's eyes and the sadness and loneliness made his chest hurts. What could have happened to the boy that he seemed to be suffering a lot of emotional pain. The man straightened and put the necklace carefully on his table.

"So then, when do you want it? The tattoo, I mean."

"Uh, I'm not in hurry so whenever suits you the best?"

Law was positively pleased.  
Usually his customers demanded to have the tattoos as soon as possible not leaving him any room to say anything. But this kid was something remarkable.

"I have this one tattoo design that I have to finish till tomorrow and the whole next week is booked. So how about if you come back on next Friday around these times. Is that okay to you?"

"Yes but, it's Friday then, shouldn't you be having some time off from work and hang out with your friends?" the teen tilted his head adorably. The tattooist let out low chuckle.

"No need to worry about me. I'm not the kind of person who hangs around at the town till the morning hours, getting drunk. I'm an indoors person."

The teen smiled and let out a small giggle. He nodded approvingly and jumped off the tattoo table.

"Thanks for the towel. Do you need the necklace for the designs or can I take it with me?"

"I have memorized the designs so you can take it with you", Law held out the necklace and the teen took it gently in his hands. The dark male couldn't help but to notice the softness of the boy's small hands. Law coughed and took out his calendar.

"So on Friday at seven-thirty… What name should I write here?"

"Luffy. Monkey D. Luffy", Luffy answered with a smile. Law felt himself smiling as well when he wrote down the teen's name.

"And what should I call you, _Mister Tall and Dark Tattooed-Tattooist_?"

"Trafalgar Law, you can call me Law."

"Alright the _Law, _I'll be seeing you on Friday!" the teen waved him from the door and disappeared to the dark streets.

The slender man had unconsciously waved back at the boy and pulled down his tattooed hand. He touched his small stubble and felt himself genially smiling. The teen had touched something inside him, something that he completely forgotten to own.

'_Monkey D. Luffy-ya, what are you doing to me?'_

* * *

On the next day Kidd came to Law's shop to get his tattoo. The tattooed man had finished it at 4 am and the bags under his eyes were growing darker. Kidd couldn't help but to tease him about them but when Law drew out his scalpel and pointed it to the red-haired man's throat, the man went silent.  
It took the whole day to tattoo the arm. They had breaks for the mercy of Law's eyes and Kidd' hand, but when it was ready Kidd was speechless. Trafalgar Law was well-known from his perfectionism and pedantic art works but this was something utterly amazing! The shades and the shapes were so accurate and real.

"Oh my fucking God, Law! I knew you were good but that you THIS good!" Kidd stood in front of the full body mirror, viewing his tattoo that started from his shoulder and ended on his back of his hand.  
Law muttered something as a reply. He was too tired and exhausted to answer. The male looked at his kit and sighed. He would have to clean his equipment and refill the ink. Kidd was still viewing his arm and praising Law all he could but they went to deaf ears.  
Law pinched the bridge of his nose and inhaled.

'_Could that idiot just leave now?'_

The tattooist proceeded to clean his equipment and putting his things back to their places. Kidd had stopped admiring himself and gone to the counter. Law put down the last ink bottle and went to the counter too, sitting on his chair.

"I'll give you this ointment that you'll rub on your arm for the next few days until it isn't so swelled anymore and the skin is healthy. For the next couple of days your hand will be very sore and tender so no sleeping on it and needless contacts with _sharp objects_, Eustass-ya." Law gave Kidd a meaningful glance. He knew very well about Kidd's relation to drug business. The red-haired man snorted and took the ointment from Law. He dropped bills on Law's hand. The dark male counted them and gave an approved nod to the other man. Law put the bills in the cash register.

"Now go. I don't want to see your ugly face here anymore."

"Ouch, that's harsh man."

"I don't care. Leave. Now." Law drew out the scalpel and Kidd was out of the shop before he could even blink. The dark tattooist smirked and put the knife on his table, leaning back on his chair and closed his eyes.

* * *

The next five days flew when Law thought about Friday night and also by the fact that Luffy had visited him again on Tuesday while he was working alone. Law wouldn't have minded it at all but Eustass Kidd just had to barge in and ruin the mood.

The teen had asked to see the design, if it was ready and smiled beautifully when he saw it. Law had heard the small boy breathe out and gasp "Perfect". The designs were simple, just like he had asked. Both of the faces were inside circles and the smiling one had the same grin as the pendant did, and the sad one had the same frown.  
Luffy seemed to want ask something from Law but the Kidd had to barge in.  
He threw his hand around Law's shoulder and laughed in his ear loudly, making the lean man's head hurt. Then Kidd had spotted Luffy, who was peering curiously his left arm. Of course, Kidd proudly showed his full-arm tattoo to the small boy.

"That's so cool!"

"Yeah, I know right!" Kidd was pleased by the praises.

"Did Law do it?" Luffy glanced Law curiously. The man was nursing his temples but didn't miss the shy stare.

"Hell yeah he did! No one other is as good as our man Trafalgar here!" the red-haired man slammed his palm against Law's back, making the man steady his balance by stepping forward due the impact. The lean man snarled which reached Luffy's ears and he let out the sweetest giggle Law had ever heard. Kidd seemed to notice the weird tension between the two dark-haired males and he grinned, which Law immediately saw. Before Kidd could say anything, Law drew out his scalpel and held it next to the red-haired male's throat.  
Luffy saw the whole thing comical and started to laugh at the funny, terrified expression. Law smirked and put down the knife. Kidd knew that that was his cue to leave.

The teen then smiled at Law and told him to see him on Friday.  
He couldn't wait to get the tattoos on him, and after seeing how _awesome _the man was Luffy was even more excited.  
When the boy turned and headed for the door, Law could have sworn that he saw the boy's cheeks flushed and a small smile lingering on his lips.

A small smile soon found his lips too.

* * *

'_Luffy-ya.'_

The name was like a spell. It made Law feel warm and fuzzy inside. Just thinking about the boy's warm brown eyes and sweet smile made the man want to hold the boy and never let go.  
But the look on the boy's face when he was holding the necklace was heart breaking. Trafalgar Law wanted to know what had happened to the boy that the boy was suffering this greatly. The teen had said something about the necklace belonging to his older brother. He didn't use present time when he spoke about his brother, he used past. Could it be that his brother had died?

Well, he had said the tattoo being _a memorial_ to him.

Law rubbed his face with his right hand. Gods he was tired!  
The man was lying on his bed wide awake.  
It was still Thursday and he had decided to go early to bed so he would be fully restored tomorrow when he'd meet Luffy again. But life was a bitch. It was nearly twelve and Law couldn't get any sleep. Lucky for him his first shift started on one pm. So it didn't matter if he slept in.

Law closed his eyes and saw the small petite teen in front of him again.  
The boy was smiling to him and when Law walked to him, the teen's cheeks were pinkish, darkening into a dark red blush.  
The boy was adorable.  
The slender tattooist wrapped his arms around the shorter boy's waist and pulled him closer. The teen looked straight up in his eyes and smiled shyly.

Law lowered himself as brushed the soft, pouty lips with his own. Luffy's eyes were half-closed and he wrapped his own thin arm around Law's neck, pulling the older male closer to him.

Their lips were closing in and –

"**LAW, WAKE UP LAW!"**

Law sat up and blinked.  
_'What the fu…' _

The dark male noticed that he had hit the answer-button in his sleep and Bepo was on the other side of the line. Law groaned and took the mobile phone in his hand.

"What now, Bepo?"

"Your shift starts in fifteen minutes, sir."

"Is it really that late already… I'll be there soon."

"Okay sir! Oh, and sir?"

"What."

"Who's _Luffy_?"

* * *

Once again, Law sat by his drawing table next to the counter and started the world behind the window. Once again, a grey and boring Friday night.  
He had prepared the tattoo chair and the inks, along with the machine. The tattoos would be black so he only needed black ink, nothing else.  
All he needed was _his _customer.

The tattooist stared the design next his hand.  
He had finished it days ago and simplicity of the tattoo design bothered him a little. But Luffy had said that he wanted it like that so what was he to disobey his customer's orders.

The bells' jingle informed that he had a customer.

And there he stood in his full glory, _Monkey D. Luffy_.

The teen was smiling to Law and seemed to be a little nervous but still very excited. The teen hung his jacket to a coat hanger next to the front door and removed his shoes as it was asked to do on a sign on the wall. He made his way to Law who was amazed how quietly the boy could move.

"So, here I am." Luffy beamed.

"Yes you indeed are." Law answered with a small smirk on his lips. He gave the two designs to Luffy who looked them and then nodded. "Perfect!"

"Okay. Go sit on that tattoo chair and roll up your sleeves as much as you can, or the take the whole shirt off." Law had his back turned to Luffy and was a bit fazed by his own boldness, which didn't seem to mind the teen as he removed his shirt flinching a little.  
The slender male turned around and made his way to the chair and put down the black ink and paper towels. He glanced at the boy sitting on the chair. Just now he noticed the wrapped up chest and the bandages seemed fresh. Luffy seemed to notice the man's gaze. He brought is right hand on top of his chest and gently brushed it.

Law blinked, bringing himself out of the trance.

"So, shall we begin?"

xxxx

The buzzing sound from the tattoo machine was hypnotizing and soon Luffy felt himself drifting to sleep. The pain didn't faze him, it didn't even make him flinch. He had felt worse. After outlining the smiling face on Luffy's right upper-arm, Law had started to put in the black ink. He was in the middle of making the first eye of the face when he noticed the smile on Luffy's face. He thought about some great starts for a chat but he came up with none, so instead he decided to ask about the tattoo.

"You said that this tattoo is a memorial for your older brother?"

"Yes", Luffy slurred. Damn he had nearly fallen asleep. The teen blinked his eyes and then turned his face too look at Law's. The man nodded, eyes fixed on the needle.

"Can you tell me a bit about this design? Why does it mean so much for you?"

"Um, I think I told you a week ago that the necklace meant a lot to Ace. He used to say that the grinning face was me because I have the same toothy grin. He himself said being the frowning sad face. '_Because when there is a sad one there always has to be one happy one'_, that's what he said to me. I want him to stay with me forever and I thought that this tattoo would tie us together again."

The tattooist nodded.  
He removed the needle to take some more ink, then resumed on his task.  
Luffy had closed his eyes again.

"_Can I ask how he died?_"

Law watched as the teen opened his eyes, eyes concentrating on a past memory. Luffy took a deep breath.

"Ace was killed while saving me", the teen closed his eyes again as the memories of that day came back. Law bit the inside of his cheek. _'A great chat starter indeed.' _But his attention was brought back when the teen started to talk.

"Ace was my only family. His mother died shortly after giving birth to him and his father was arrested as a suspect of being a gang leader. He was killed in a car crash on the way to the jail. Ace never talked about him. My grandfather adopted Ace, but he was allowed to keep his mother's name Portgas D. I was born three years later and my parents suffered the same fate, my mom died after giving birth to me but I've never heard of my father. Grandpa never talks about him either.

"Gramps works for the Navy and is always somewhere else but home so Ace became my parent at the age of ten. It was hard for us, for him. If it wasn't for that nice lady at the downstairs we would be dead after two weeks of being alone. She feed and clothed us, she treated us like her own. Then Makino got married and moved away. We were alone again."

"Didn't your grandfather visit you at all?"

"He tried to but his work tied him to the other side of Grand Line. He did call us every other day and send us money", Luffy stared in front of him and gripped the arm of the tattoo chair with his left hand.

"When Ace turned fifteen, he joined a gang called 'The Whitebeard'. The leader of that gang was an old man who cared for his gang members as they were his children. That old man took a huge liking on us, he gave us food, money and a home. We owed him our lives. I was twelve back then. I looked up to my brother and wanted to be like him. I wanted to prove my worthy so I stabbed myself."

Law stared the boy. The teen was laughing and pointed the cut underneath his left eye. The dark male's eye twitched but he shook it off and resumed on his work on the tattoo.

"Ace wasn't happy about that at all. Others' thought it was funny until Ace yelled at them for encouraging me."

Luffy had once again closed his eyes and smiled warmly at the memories of his past. The good old days, as they said. Then his facial expression darkened.

"But then everything started to go downhill. We lived happily with the other gang members but then the gang wars started. Me and Ace were the youngest of the gang so we didn't need to participate it. I was fifteen when I saw the first dead body. A person was stabbed to death in front of my eyes. Ace was there too but instead of freezing up, like I did, he scooped me up and ran away. After that he never let me leave the headquarters without him. But of course I had to get out. I can't be at one place for a long time, so I snug from the gang's headquarters to outside to see the starry sky and feel the cold air again when we were attacked.

"A gang called _CP-9 _raided into our hide-out and destroyed everything. Then I saw the leader, _Rob Lucci. _He was pure evil. He also noticed me and knew who I was. I was kidnapped by the enemy gang. They tortured me from which I got this scar here", Luffy pointed the old wound on his abdomen. Law eyed the cut carefully. _'They tried to hit the guts which would have killed him instantly.'_

"The stab wasn't deep enough to hurt my insides but it still hurt and bled. I remember curling up into a ball in the corner of the cell they kept me in and begging for Ace to find me. Two days later Ace barged in and hugged me for the longest time he had ever hugged me. He was crying.

"Our gang's medic treated me and I never left Ace again. I was following him wherever he went and he followed me. We were both scared by the conflict and wanted to be sure that it'd never happen again."

The buzzing sound ended and Luffy looked at Law, who was wiping the blood and inks away. The tattooist held a mirror in his hands so the teen could see the tattoo.

Luffy smiled.

"It's perfect!"

They had a small break.  
Law offered the teen a can of Cola, Luffy thanked him.

"So what happened then?" Law was surprised by himself. He wasn't usually this chatty, _hell_, he didn't even talk to his employees this much! He usually said a few words and then remained silent for the rest of the day, or week.  
This boy really brought new sides of him.

Luffy stared the can in his hands.

"The next two years lived without any encounters by the enemy gangs. Until two months ago", the teen eyes darkened. Law finished his can and prepared his tattoo machine again.

"The enemy was a gang called 'The Blackbeard'. The leader, Teach, had been one of us but then he got greedy and wanted to create his own gang. He never liked Whitebeard's rules because they were too _lame_. Whitebeard didn't want unnecessary victims so he didn't kill people. He told us to keep our eyes on our surroundings so that no innocent people could get hurt.

"Teach didn't attack our headquarters, he attacked me and Ace. After being with our gang he had realized that the old man favoured us above everyone else. So when he struck, it hit home right away. Ace was known from his pyromaniac side. He'd set things on fire and watch them burn, he did put them out before they'd spread but no one noticed that. So, Blackbeard had his men setting a building on fire but he made a mistake. He forgot to inform his men that the building they torched was the building where we lived in. He had meant to set up a random building and put the blame on my brother. Ace would never set a building on fire. Not when there were people living inside, _not when his younger brother was sleeping off a fever on the sixth floor_.

"Other habitants got away safely but I was still out cold. I only woke up when I felt something painful on my chest. A ceiling lamp had caught up in fire and fallen on my chest, waking me up. The burn was pretty bad. It's still healing", Luffy brought his right hand on his chest.

'_A third degree burn; will leave a permanent scar, will take a long time to heal'_, Law thought.

"I was in shock to say at least. The whole building was on fire and there was smoke everywhere. I tried to get out but when I got the front door I only saw red flames everywhere. The image of the burning corridor still haunts my mind.

"I couldn't breathe, my chest hurt and I thought that I was a goner when Ace appeared behind me and scooped me up. He had wetted himself with water before running into the building _to save me_. The flames seemed like they were controlled by him because when he ran through the corridors and stairs the flames didn't even touch him, it wasn't even hot. When we got out of the building, it collapsed. An ambulance was there for me and they took us to the hospital. They put into a surgery and when I came to, Ace was sitting on a chair next to my bed, holding my hand and crying. He was blaming himself for it.  
Then the police came in. They suspected Ace as the one who had put the building on fire. I objected to it saying that why would _my brother_ set the building on fire in which I'm in. They didn't seem to care but then a woman came in and told that she had witnessed the whole thing. She had seen the culprit and it was not Ace.

"The police let Ace go but warned him. I was released from the hospital a week later. They held a huge party for me at the headquarters. We ate, drank and partied all night. But of course we couldn't stay happy. They Blackbeard gang raided in the middle of our party and attacked Whitebeard old man. Ace told his best friend to take me away while he'd stay and fight. I refused and Marco wanted also to object but instead he started to drag me away. Then there was an explosion. Marco was thrown away by the power and I lied on the ground. The scar on my chest had started to bleed but all I could see were flames and I froze. That was when Blackbeard noticed me and ran towards me with a dagger. It all reminded me of the conflict two years ago and I went rigid. I couldn't move and when the dagger hit the target, all I saw was red _and Ace shielding me, a dagger coming through his heart_."

Law had finished the tattoo on the left upper-arm a while ago but was so drawn to the teen's life story that he nearly missed the tears. But now he did.

Luffy was re-living his traumatic past and it took a lot from Law not to pull the teen in his arms and never let go. He wanted to do that very much but he wasn't sure how the boy would take it.

"Our gang beat the enemy but I lost Ace that night. He died with a smile on his face, which I can never forget. After the funeral I left the gang but Marco visits me there and then, telling me that the gang is worried about me and they'd be happy if I returned back to them. I couldn't. I can't. I hate being alone like this, but _I can't be in a place that reminds me of Ace all the time!_"

And Luffy broke down.  
He cried for the first time after Ace's funeral, which was a month ago. He had been keeping all his emotions to himself and now they were pushing themselves through him.

He was a bit surprised when he felt two strong arms circle around him and he was pulled against a warm chest. Law minded Luffy's sore arms but it still didn't stop him from pulling the boy against him.  
Luffy's break down had been too much for him and he let go of his pride for a moment and hugged the teen, letting the teen know that he was there for him. He was there and the teen could cry against his shoulder.

They stayed like this for what seemed forever, not that Law minded. He liked having the teen in his arms. Luffy fit in his arms so well, like he was meant to be there.  
The teen sobbed and hiccuped, signalling the man that he was okay now. Law reluctantly let go of the boy and offered him a paper towel, Luffy muttered his thanks.

"You have gone through much", Law said cupping the teen's face, Luffy looked the man through his red, swollen eyes. "I have a proposition."

Luffy nodded. "Wh-what kind of?" he sobbed.

"I've grown attracted to you, Luffy-ya. Would you mind giving me the honour of asking you on a date on next Friday?"

Once again, Law was surprised by his own bluntness. He saw how Luffy's eyes widened and his cheeks flushed red.  
Law almost expected the teen to turn him down.

"S-sure, I don't mind."

Law saw the most beautiful smile in his whole life and the teen in front of him was giving it to him. The most beautiful creature in the whole universe was smiling to _him_. Law felt himself smiling to the boy.

"Great."

They shared another embrace, this time is was longer and warmer. Law could feel his emotions lighting up his chest for the first time in his life. Luffy closed his eyes as he listened the taller male's steady heart beat. The beat relaxed him made his head spin a little, then again it could be because of the numbing pain that was coming from his sore upper-arms. He had been indifferent towards physical pain for so long that he had totally forgotten how it felt like. All he had known for the past month was mental pain, which hurt more than anything, but these wound would heal and leave out something beautiful and amazing in his skin. These scars he liked.  
Luffy's smile widened to the fullest and he felt his chest warming up by the thought of next Friday. He really did like Law. There was something familiar about him, something warm and familiar. The man's eyes were dark and malice, he had always this angry look on his face. But Luffy had seen deeper. The man had warm, caring eyes and he was really good-looking. The teen blushed a bit.  
When he first had seen Law he had been immediately drawn to him. He liked everything about Law. He liked his stubble, his short black hair, his eyes, his hands, chest, long legs… Everything about Law was attracting.  
And when their eyes had met for the first time, he had seen the same realization on the man's eyes as he was looking him from head to toes.  
_'I must have looked really pathetic standing in front of his desk, dripping water like that'_, the teen mused.

Law was gently rubbing circles around the teen's back, he really didn't know how to comfort people but he guessed that this was good. The boy's breathing had calmed down and Law leaned his cheek on the boy's hair. The black hair smelled like apples, the tattooist smiled. He had never thought apples could smell that good.  
He wondered what else he would grow to like when he'd get to know Luffy better. He had already started to prefer apples more and the _grey and boring_ Friday nights didn't seem so grey and boring anymore.

_-fin- _

* * *

_I love tattoos, I have two of them and I'm planning my third one. It's going to be a heart, customized from the Kingdom Hearts' logo. It will be tattooed on my chest, close to my heart. With this I want to tell people that I have a heart which is still unlocked and I'm waiting for the right man to unlock it. My first tattoo was a red-eyed tree frog. I love frogs, and those little fellows are my favourite. He looks like he's climbing up my leg and is looking forward to see if there's any danger. That's me, always going forward, not minding the obstacles and always keeping my eyes on what future has for me.  
My second tattoo is a cherry tree's branch. It nearly covers my whole upper-back. The branch is strong and from it blooms the most beautiful flowers there are. I want to think myself as that. The branch isn't ready though, I reached my pain limit after three hours and the flowers seem undone. So when I have the money I'm going to re-tattoo the sakura-blossoms to look more beautiful and real.  
I have also thought about my fourth tattoo, I want it to tell people that I'm a free spirit without any chains around me.  
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_Thanks for reading,  
- Ame _


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